Why we decided to fork SOCKS
Announcing Unisocks Classic — the REAL Unisocks
If we set the goal to create blockchain technologies that solve real-world problems, we should stand firmly in the real world. With one foot at the very least. Therefore, although we love the project, we’re challenging the redesign of Unisocks and announcing a fork in SOCKS because there are no emotions and no whims on the blockchain.
When Hayden Adams announced Unisocks at the Fluidity Summit on May 9th, he cited a number of ideas that are dear to the heart of any decentralization enthusiast. Notably, he talked about two key benefits of the Ethereum blockchain: immutability and trustless execution. At the end of his talk, Hayden announced Unisocks: limited-edition, dynamically priced socks with a unique design and distribution model. What could be cooler (or geekier) than blockchain-themed socks, right?
The socks are represented on the Ethereum blockchain by redeemable ERC20 tokens (SOCKS). Only 500 SOCKS tokens will ever exist, and their price grows dynamically depending on the ebbs and flows of the liquidity pool. Each SOCKS token sold increases the price of the next, but holders of SOCKS can sell their tokens back into the pool for others to buy. No physical socks have yet been distributed to the general public (at least to our knowledge), though a testnet appears to be live. An effervescent secondary market for SOCKS tokens has quickly emerged within the crypto community. Speaking for ourselves, we’re very proud holders of SOCKS tokens and love watching the dynamic pricing. The experiment is meant to be just that — an experiment, yet it is supposed to illustrate a pretty concrete use case. In his announcement, Hayden illustrated that this model could be applied to other physical limited-edition goods.
Then on July 2nd 2019, at 15:57 GMT, the design of Unisocks (the actual socks, not the SOCKS token) changed. This change was concealed from the community and happened without a formal announcement, but it is recorded in the project’s GitHub.
So the design changed, what’s the big deal?
Blockchain technology is not an abstraction. As proponents of the #buidl mentality, we believe that our experiments should set a fertile groundwork for real-world applications of the future. The concept of a dynamically-priced physical asset is one that has a multitude of tangible applications: from limited-edition clothing drops to elusive gig tickets. Yet the concept dissipates the moment that the asset becomes modifiable by a central authority without cross-reference to the blockchain. Collectibles and other scarce physical goods are not fungible. Implying fungibility sets a malignant precedent which puts the validity of the whole concept at risk.
To put it into perspective: imagine the same dynamic pricing protocol is applied to another limited-edition item, say, a specific limited-edition collectible figurine. Imagine that the dynamic price curves for the token starts off with a Captain America figurine, but halfway through the sale, the design changes to a Hulk figurine. If the physical good related to the token has changed, should a new token be released accordingly, or can the old one still be used? If anything, when a new design for a collectible item emerges, it should be priced as a new collectible, not as an extension of the old one.
There is therefore a clear breakdown in unity between the token and the physical object, which has two consequences: it creates an environment in which bad actors can arbitrarily change the physical good claimed to be immutable and it propels the speculator culture which exists in crypto today. With the change in design, the creators of the Unisocks have demonstrated that the primary intent for the SOCKS token is speculative, rupturing any claimed ties to the real world.
Our solution: fork the SOCKS!
To demonstrate the irregularity we have spotted in the Unisocks project, we decided that the only viable and good-faith solution is to reject the new Unisocks design. To us, if a collectible good is tied to a token, the collectible good should be safekept and left immutable. With the Unisocks Classic Project, we intend to preserve the original Unisocks design and ensure its distribution to the rightful sock owners. For us, the ethos of cryptocurrency is to maintain resilience against human whims and the Unisocks project has fallen victim to whimsicality.
The SOCKS fork will create a new token: the SOCKSCLASSIC which will entitle its holder to a unique pair of real Unisocks (the ones with the initial design). This will uphold the initial promise of the Unisocks project, with a focus on preserving Proof-of-Sock:
- Sockchain technology
- POS (Proof-of-Sock)
- Tightly knitted coupling
- Formal foot modelling
- Zero slippage
All holders of SOCKS tokens before the redesign will receive an equivalent in SOCKSCLASSIC tokens through an airdrop. The SOCKSCLASSIC token will be available for purchase through Uniswap and will remain a dynamically-priced ERC20 token with a connection to a real, unfungible, limited-edition pair of socks. Our goal is not to undermine the initial Unisocks project, but to open a dialogue about the connection of real-world items with abstract blockchain concepts. Also, more people will get access to crypto-socks, so that’s nice.
We will shortly be publishing a technical report on the fork. Watch this space!
In the meantime, we would like to also announce the creation of the Unisocks Classic Foundation, an organization dedicated to exposing the self-referential and speculative nature of crypto. We intend Unisocks Classic to become a statement, a symbol and a first step. We believe in the power of decentralized technologies and their capability to fundamentally change the world. Our experiments will be designed to expose how far we are from the tipping point and how deeply rooted we are in a speculative virtual environment.
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